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Daily Archives: February 17, 2013

Look boys and girls, it looks like Idaho’s Governor Otter can be bought after all. Despite thousands of Idaho residents signing various petitions to stop the healthcare exchange, our esteemed politicians including Governor Otter and 16 freshmen in the Idaho House of Representatives (who are striking a deal selling our souls) have decided to approve Obama’s healthcare exchange in this state if they get what they want. Otter got 30 [million] pieces of silver for Idaho in grants for this health exchange travesty.

It seems they deemed this decision to be above the ‘pay grade’ of average Idaho citizens. Or perhaps ‘commoner’ would be more apt. It’s for your own good, don’t cha know.

Gov. Otter on a false choice:

“It’s a difficult choice, but one I find far preferable to submitting to a federally established insurance exchange, with all the loss of control over our own destiny that entails,” Otter said. He said the exchange will be designed to make health coverage more accessible and affordable for Idahoans.

One man stood against this monstrous mistake:

The one vote against introducing the bill in the committee came from House GOP Caucus Chairman John Vander Woude, R-Nampa, who said afterward, “I’m against a state exchange. Why would I vote for something that helps create it?”

Perhaps then they can explain how it is that the federal government is willing to throw cash at something that ought to be such a good idea that bribery would be unnecessary. If the feds have to bribe you to do something that is ‘a good idea,’ common sense tells you more scrutiny, more daylight, more transparency is in order. Idaho should not bow down to Obama’s goons.

Sen. Whitehouse to Speak at “Forward on Climate” Rally in Washington
Rally on National Mall Begins at Noon
Thursday, February 14, 2013

Washington, DC – This Sunday, climate change activists from around the country – including several busloads from Rhode Island – will converge on the National Mall in Washington, DC for what is being billed as “the largest climate rally in U.S. history.” Today it was announced that U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), one of the leading voices for action on climate change in Congress, will be speaking at the rally.

“I have been fighting hard to break through the barricade of special interest influence preventing action on climate change in Washington,” said Whitehouse. “This rally is an opportunity for people from all across America to tell those special interests to get out of the way. It’s time to take serious action, both in Congress and in the Administration, to address the damage that climate change is already causing to our communities.”

The event, called “Forward on Climate”, is being organized by the Sierra Club, 350.org, Hip Hop Caucus, Environment America, League of Conservation Voters, and a coalition of more than 50 other organizations. It will take place at noon at the northeast corner of the Washington Monument.

In the midst of so much that is ugly, it is a great pleasure to report this: Little Zakkai will be going home today. On Friday, his parents wrote: “Zakkai has impressed the medical staff and us with another miraculous recovery from surgery (two this time!). Thank God…

“In fact, he’s doing so well that we are being discharged already, ahead of schedule.”

“Thank God” says it all. The capacity of this young body to rally and heal is amazing.

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Now if only the world could rally and heal. But there is precious little sign of this. Anything but…

While the international community dithers and dallies — still seeking “negotiations” with Iran — that Islamist republic is rushing towards nuclear capability.

According to the Sunday Times (London), Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi, believed to be the head of Iran’s secret nuclear weapons program, was present in North Korea last week when critical weapons tests were run. This is particularly noteworthy because Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi is said to be reluctant to leave Iranian soil out of fear that the Mossad might get him.

What is being pursued by the Iranians is a nuclear warhead compact enough to be fitted to the ballistic missiles in its possession. And the device the N. Koreans detonated is a step in that direction. A Japanese source cited reportedly said (emphasis added):

“The atomic bomb appears to have been made compact enough to be placed on a missile.”

If this doesn’t send chills through you, you’re just not paying attention.

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Experts in the field of nuclear weaponry have been suggesting for some time now that Iran may be further along in its development of such weapons than is apparent because of cooperation with North Korea.

Iran’s Shahab-3 long-range missile is based on the North Korean Nodong-1. And Iranian agents were said to be present in December 2012, when North Korea tested its missiles.

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Where does all of this leave us with regard to discussions on Iran that will take place between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama during the latter’s visit to Israel in March? We are being told that it is Obama’s goal to convince Netanyahu that he will take care of matters — acting to prevent a nuclear Iran, and that Netanyahu should trust him.

Let us put aside for a moment the issue of whether Obama’s word can be trusted. There has been a serious and real difference of opinion between the Israeli and American heads of state regarding when action would have to be taken.

When PM Netanyahu spoke at the UN last September, he had that diagram and drew his red line. It had to do with development of the nuclear bomb itself, and Netanyahu’s position was that Iran had to be stopped by the time it was 90 percent along the path of having sufficient weapons-grade material.

(This has been interpreted as being the point at which Iran has amassed enough uranium, purified to a level of 20 percent, that could quickly be enriched further — i.e., to 90% — and be used to produce an atomic bomb.)

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The US position has been that it is only necessary to stop Iran when it is about to connect an atomic bomb to a detonating device or delivery system, presumably a missile (but possibly a device to be placed in the container of a cargo ship or elsewhere). If Iran were stopped from delivering or detonating that atomic weapon, that is what would matter.

Absolutely not the case, argued Netanyahu:

“[Enriching enough uranium for a bomb] requires thousands of centrifuges spinning in tandem in big – very big – industrial plants. Those uranium plants are visible, and they’re still vulnerable.
In contrast, Iran could produce the nuclear detonator – the fuse – in a lot less time, maybe under a year, maybe only a few months. The detonator can be made in a small workshop the size of a classroom. It may be very difficult to find and target that workshop, especially in Iran. That’s a country that’s bigger than France, Germany, Italy and Britain combined.”

Netanyahu’s argument was always on the mark, even if Obama, and the world more generally paid him no heed.

But now? Now that we know that Iran is further ahead than had been imagined because of cooperation with North Korea? Now that we see it clear: that there’s no way to “detect” when Iran will have a delivery system or detonator because of that cooperation with N. Korea?

Has Obama begun to see things differently? Will Netanyahu be able to convince him to take a new approach?

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Consider just how sick the world is: ISRAEL is the only nation in the world that the Iranians fear. Imagine that. An nuclear scientist afraid to leave Iran because of the Mossad. Repeatedly I’ve read that Iranian leaders believe that Israel might bomb them. Only Israel, in all the world.

And so, I continue to salute PM Netanyahu — for all the quarrels I may have with him in other regards — for his clear vision and his courage in bringing this issue to the international community.

Because of enhanced technology that the Iranians have begun using, the time has been reduced for reaching the Red Line that Netanyahu spelled out last September. If Israel is to hit Iran, it will have to be soon. Even at the UN, he had said the Red Line would likely be reached by spring or summer of 2013.

And so, nu?

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I reiterate here what I’ve said many times: I have no inside track on what will happen (if even the prime minister is certain right now what will happen). I write based on my research of public information, and according to my intuitive sense of what is implied by various statements and policy decisions made by our leaders.

It has been my understanding for years that we have the capacity to weaken, although not totally eliminate, Iran’s nuclear development capacity — perhaps setting back their program three to five years. As recently as September there were still reports that we have “an attainable military option that can be implemented independently, without American assistance.”

In recent weeks, I’ve been seeing strength exhibited by our government — this with regard to Syria in particular. I noted that Netanyahu has declared unequivocally that Iran must be stopped and that Barak said, “We mean what we say.” I see a genuine determination to guard the security of Israel.

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With all of this, however, there is a serious proviso. Iran is burying its nuclear manufacturing equipment underground in a way that makes its accessibility limited. Note that last September Netanyahu said the uranium plants were “still vulnerable.” That’s less the case today than it was when he said it. And so the Red Line for Israel’s ability to effectively hit Iran may be different from the Red Line that Netanyahu brought to the international community with intention of moving the US on the issue.

Bottom line: Israel has bunker-buster bombs, including some sold to us by the US that weigh in at 5,000 pounds. But none would penetrate the huge volume of concrete utilized by Iran in building its nuclear manufacturing bunkers.

It is the US that possesses the newly developed GPS-guided, 30,000 pound bunker-buster bombs — Massive Ordnance Penetrators nicknamed Big BLU — that would do the job, and the stealth-bomber refitted B-2s that would be capable of deploying the bombs.

Credit: rt.com

The US could take out the Iranian nuclear project. The US is the one that should be doing it.

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Perhaps the Israeli delay in acting is connected to attempts, still, to get the US on board. Not that the US would take the lead in attacking, but perhaps would give the nod and then provide logistical back-up, or sell Israel pertinent equipment.

Certainly Israel is not going to act before Netanyahu has those talks with Obama.

This should not be forgotten, however: Part of the problem in giving Obama more time to see if diplomatic efforts plus sanctions can work (something Netanyahu knows is nonsense) is that if Israel allows too much time, we’ll be past the red line with regard to our ability to successfully attack. Then it will, by default, fall to the US to act or not. We will have surrendered our capacity to act successfully on our own behalf. It is a fine line that must be walked.

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And where is the international community on all of this? Hey! they’re moving right along.

First, since Iran says they are enriching uranium for peaceful purposes only, P5 + 1 (Britain, China, France, Russia, the US, plus Germany), want Iran to do more to prove that this is the case. That’s enormously constructive, don’t you think?

And then — during a meeting scheduled for February 26th in Kazakhstan — they said they intend to offer easing of sanctions barring trade in gold and other precious metals in return for Iran taking steps to shut down Fordow. (Taking steps?) This is no more than a partial re-run of a demand made last year that Iran stop producing higher grade uranium, ship stockpiles out of the country, and shut down Fordow.

According to one official cited anonymously in the JPost, this new offer is “a way to test whether they are serious or not.”

This amazes me. That there might still be officials who wonder about this. The name of the Iranian game is stalling long enough to complete weapon development.

Netanyahu, in the privacy of his own living quarters, must bang his head against the wall on a regular basis.

In any event, today, once intentions to make this demand became public, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, Iran’s National Security Committee Chief, declared that Iran will never close that military facility: “our national duty is to defend our nuclear and vital centers against an enemy threat.”

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But let me share here another international concern.

Yesterday, Foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton let it be known that the EU is following “with concern reports about the deteriorating health condition” of four Palestinian prisoners “in Israeli detention who have been on an extended hunger strike.”

This followed an earlier expression of concern (same word) voiced on behalf of the UN by Humanitarian Coordinator James W. Rawley.

Gee, I can hardly think of an issue more significant than this. But since there is so much hoopla, let’s look at the facts, which are in short supply.

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Of the four Palestinians, focus is on one, Samer Issawi, who has been doing a protest fast intermittently during the past few months, in order to secure his release.

According to the JPost, Issawi, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was arrested in 2002 for terrorist-related activity (this was in the course of Operation Defensive Shield, mounted against the terrorism of the second intifada). He was subsequently tried and sentenced to 30 years. But in 2011, after having served close to 10 years, he was one of the terrorists released from Israeli prisons in exchange for Gilad Shalit.

In 2012, he was re-arrested by the IDF for violating the terms of his release, and almost immediately began that intermittent hunger strike.

I guess he was incensed by the fact that he was again in prison, when he thought he was home free; although in a just world he never would have been released in the first place.

We’re hardly talking about a nice man, my friends. Or an innocent one. Or someone to whom an injustice has been done. But he wants out, and Palestinian Arabs in prison have determined that sometimes if they go on hunger strikes Israel will let them out rather than endure the bad press.

And oh! does the PA milk this for all it’s worth. Poor suffering man, languishing in prison without full rights. On the verge of dying, actually, because of that (self-inflicted) hunger strike and horrendous Israeli neglect. I saw one pro-Palestinian site that wailed, “Samer Issawi is like an olive tree, his head reaches the sky.”

This, then, is the man that the UN and the EU are worried about. It’s politically correct to take this position.

For the record, Issawi is getting medical care in prison, and does eat sometimes. Israel cannot let him die in prison because then he would be made a martyr. I will be furious if he’s let out, however.

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On Friday, Palestinian Arab demonstrations in Judea and Samaria on behalf of the release of Issawi turned into riots. In more than one location, rocks and firebombs were thrown at IDF soldiers. Major sites of rioting were in Beitunya, near the Ofer security prison, at Kfar Kaddum west of Nablus (Shechem), and in the Kalandiyah area. All in all several hundred Arabs were involved. Smaller demonstrations were held in Jenin, Bethlehem, and outside Efrat.

Firebombs tossed at the IDF in order to secure Issawi’s release? Under no circumstances whatsoever should he be released.

Abbas has made the release of all prisoners a pre-condition for coming to the table. On Friday, in Ramallah, he declared, “We will not forget, and we will not leave you to suffer behind the bars of the occupation.”

Please note carefully that he condones all actions against “the occupation” — never stopping to say that those who have killed innocent civilians, particularly women and children, cannot be excused.

…No one wants to talk about the fact that in the days before a woman’s cycle she loses half her strength, to say nothing of the emotional ups and downs that affect judgment…

It’s not all about qualification. I’m speaking as a female Marine Iraq war vet who served in the combat zone doing entry checkpoint duty in Fallujah, and we worked with the grunts daily for that time. All the branches still have different standards for females and males. Why? Because most women wouldn’t even qualify to be in the military if they didn’t.

Men and women are different, but those pushing women into combat don’t want to admit that truth. They huff and puff about how women can do whatever men can do, but it just ain’t so. We’re built differently, and it doesn’t matter that one particular woman could best one particular man. The best woman is still no match for the best man, and most of the men she’d be fireman-carrying off the battlefield will be at least 100lbs heavier than she with their gear on.

Women are often great shooters but can’t run in 50-80lbs of gear as long, hard or fast as men. Military training is hard enough on men’s bodies; it’s harder on women’s. And until women stop menstruating there will always be an uphill battle for staying level and strong at all times.

No one wants to talk about the fact that in the days before a woman’s cycle she loses half her strength, to say nothing of the emotional ups and downs that affect judgment. And how would you like fighting through PMS symptoms while clearing a town or going through a firefight? Then there are the logistics of making all the accommodations for women in the field, from stopping the convoy to pee or because her cycle started to stripping down to get hosed off after having to go into combat with full MOP gear when there’s a biological threat.

This is to say nothing of unit cohesion which is imperative and paramount, especially in the combat fields. When preparing for battle, the last thing on your mind should be sex, but you put men and women in close quarters together and human nature is what it is (this is also why the repeal of DADT is so damaging). It doesn’t matter what the rules are. The Navy proved that when they started allowing women on ship. What happened? They were having sex and getting pregnant, ruining unit cohesion not to mention derailing the operations because they’d have to change course to get them off ship.

When I deployed we’d hardly been in country a few weeks before one of our females had to be sent home because she’d gotten pregnant (nice waste of training not to mention tax-payer money for training). That’s your military readiness? Our enemies are laughing – Thanks for giving us another vulnerability, USA!

Then there are relationships. Whether it’s a consensual relationship, unwanted advances or sexual assault, they all destroy unit cohesion. No one is talking about the physical and emotional stuff that goes along with men and women together. A good relationship can foment jealousy and the perception of favoritism. A relationship goes sour and suddenly one loses faith in the very person that may need to drag one off the field of battle. A sexual assault happens and a woman not only loses faith in her fellows, but may fear them. A vindictive man paints a woman as easy and she loses the respect of her peers. A vindictive woman wants to destroy a man’s career with a false accusation (yes, folks, this happens too), and it’s poison to the unit. All this happens before the fighting even begins.

Yet another little-discussed issue is that some female military are leaving their kids behind to advance their careers by deploying. I know of one divorced Marine left her two sons, one of them autistic, with the grandparents to care for while she deployed. She was wounded on base, not on the front lines, and is a Purple Heart recipient. What if she’d been killed, leaving behind her special needs child? Glory was more important than motherhood. Another case in my own unit was a married female who became angry when they wouldn’t let both her and her husband deploy at the same time. Career advancement was the greater concern.

I understand the will to fight. I joined the Marines in the hopes of deploying because I believe that fighting jihadists is right and I care about the women and children in Islamic countries where they are denied their rights, subjugated, mutilated, and murdered with impunity, where children are molested and raped with impunity, not to mention defending our own freedom against these hate-filled terrorists who want to destroy freedom-loving countries like America. Joining the Marines was one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life and I’m glad I got to deploy. It not only allowed me to witness the war, but to witness the problems with women in combat.

Women have many wonderful strengths and there is certainly a lot of work for women to do in the military. But all the problems that come with men and women working together are compounded in the war zone, destroying the cohesion necessary to fight bloody, hellish war. We are at war, and if we want to win, we have to separate the wheat from the chaff and the top priority should be military readiness and WINNING wars, not political correctness and artificially imposed “equality” on the military.

JudeJude Eden blogs at Poltical Animal and is a graduate of Hillsdale College in Michigan and the Hallmark Institute of Photography in Massachusetts.

She served in the Marine Corps from 2004-2008 and deployed to Fallujah, Iraq in 2005-6.

She is a cancer survivor and cellist now living in North Carolina with her Brazilian husband.

In case anyone had any doubt, the Leftists have been busy little Marxists in Israel — that includes Obama. NGO Monitor just released its latest report on foreign government funding of radical political Israeli NGOs which are working in earnest to undermine Israel’s international standing and subvert Israeli society. Most people assume that the financiers of anti-Jew propaganda are Europeans. Well, they now are brothers in arms with the US government. American taxpayers are actively funding (without their knowledge) political campaigns against Israel and her citizens. It is a subversive technique to force Israel to go back to the 1967 borders and grant a Palestinian state. More to the point, the money is going towards the destruction of Israel and for the first time that I know of, the US is backing it monetarily and behind the scenes.

Obama actively meddled in Israel’s recent elections. Now, the US is funneling funds to at least three radical Leftist Israeli NGOs. And with this funding, the Progressive/Marxists are seizing full control of Israel’s media. It would seem that Israel is losing to the enemies within, just as America is. It’s another stealth coup in the making.

Let’s look at the three NGOs who stand out the most:

Keshev: Keshev has a long history of hatred towards Israel and funding anti-Jewish events. They are a radical Leftist media watchdog group. Behind the group are some of the most high-profile radicalized journalists and writers in Israel. They received $492,452 in direct aid from the US government. This group is pro-Hamas and pro-Jihadist — they are for the eradication of Israel from the face of the Earth and support those who support Iran. This group promotes Israeli Apartheid week.

One featured project from the 2005-6 grantees, entitled “Words Can Kill,” is jointly implemented by Israeli NGO Keshev and Palestinian NGO Miftah. According to the EC, these NGOs promote a “discourse free of incitement, prejudice and dehumanization of the other in Israel and Palestine.” In sharp contrast, Miftah’s website is a forum for demonization of Israel and “disseminate[s] the Palestinian narrative and discourse globally.” For instance, during the fighting in Gaza, Miftah referred to Israeli “atrocities” and “massacres.” An opinion piece published on January 8, 2009 declared, “Israel has opened the gates of hell to the Palestinians,” and denounced defense of Israeli actions as “scandalous fabrications.” In these and countless other examples, Miftah makes a mockery of the stated goals of a “culture of moderation, tolerance, and understanding.” PfP-funding for Miftah raises serious doubts about proper oversight and auditing procedures by the European Commission.

Catholic Relief Services/B’Tselem: Via Catholic Relief Services, the US has given $220,304 to B’Tselem. An anti-Israel pressure and propaganda group that is known for aiding the Palestinians by supplying them video cameras to film snuff films that depict Israelis as monsters who are persecuting Palestinians for no reason but hate. Lying propaganda and the facilitation thereof is their specialty. There have been many instances of these false videos reported using faux events to slander Israelis.

B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories was established in February 1989 by a group of prominent academics, attorneys, journalists, and Knesset members. They claim to endeavor to document and educate the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public and help create a human rights culture in Israel. What they really do is undermine Israel and support their enemies as well as terrorism.

Recognizing the central role of the United States both in terms of its historic alliance with Israel and its efforts to facilitate a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, B’Tselem has established an American presence to inform the political and public discourse in this country and to ensure that human rights are a centerpiece of both the bilateral relationship as well as diplomatic efforts.

Foundation for Middle East Peace: The US donated $15,474 to the Foundation for Middle East Peace which immediately funneled those funds to the far left internet outlet Social TV. Anti-Israel propaganda abounds amid political bias and the twisting of geopolitical issues. It’s disgusting. Obviously, the US is aiding these radical NGOs to wage ‘political warfare’ in Israel to sway public opinion and hasten Israel’s demise.

Somewhere cozy in all this is our State Department and I suspect (scratch that – I’m certain of it), George Soros. Soros is already wielding far too much influence in the US and is overseeing its downfall. You can bet he is busily churning up chaos is Israel — he must salivate over the thought of its destruction. Soros actually funds the Obama movement here in the US and uses Obama as a personal puppet – staffing the White House with his cronies and shaping policy.

If you’re wondering who’s funding the network of left-wing, non-government organizations in Israel, which aim to topple Netanyahu’s government and turn Israel into an Arab majority state, it turns out to be the same man who’s funding the Occupy Wall Street mobs: George Soros. Tel Aviv has had to contend with the same left-wing protests, tents and all, obviously all coordinated by one central global puppeteer.

That is why the Israeli Knesset passed the NGO Funding Transparency Bill by 40 to 34 in February. It was a hard-fought battle. But despite its neutered state, the bill survived and was enacted. It is a declaration of war by the conservative Likud Party against the shadow NGO empire being used by George Soros to shape the future of Israel. Its liberal opponents called it a “threat to democracy”…

Soros’ global reach is what is contributing to world-wide economic and political disequilibrium. His attempt to overthrow the Netanyahu government is a particularly odious campaign. He has aroused intense hatred among many supporters of Israel…

It is obvious that Barack Obama’s attitude toward Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu has been shaped by his puppetmaster. He takes his instructions from the Shadow Party, that network of private organizations that now controls the policies of the Democratic Party, which is pursuing goals that are never openly discussed in public. These goals embody a fundamental hostility to American institutions and even to American sovereignty as a nation.

With friends like the US, who needs enemies? Israel is being turned inside out and absolutely inundated by Leftist infiltration. Just as the US needs to wake up and fast to the enemies within, so does Israel. Their very existence depends on it. Barack Obama is not only poison to America, he is a suicide pill for Israel.

“America is at that awkward stage. It’s too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards.” – Claire Wolfe